Woman fired for refusing to wear make-up.

Shenoa Vild hates to wear makeup. Face goop is simply not for her. She happens to think she has a naturally healthy, vibrant complexion. After meeting her, I have to agree.

But Vild, a waitress, says her former boss had an entirely different opinion.

He wanted Vild to wear makeup.

She wouldn’t.

So, she says, she got canned.

Vild had worked at Trophy’s in Mission Valley for five years without wearing makeup. Apparently, for all that time, it didn’t matter.

But the restaurant was sold earlier this year, and she says the new management wanted the women to doll up. Vild says she got the ax in late April when she wouldn’t.

Employers have the right to do this. A few years ago, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it is not discrimination for employers to make women wear makeup. (Who are these judges? Maybelline stockholders?)

But just because it’s legal doesn’t make it right. … [read the rest here.]

The 9th Circuit case the article referenced was Jespersen v. Harrah’s Operating Co. (blogged about here). The holding of this case, that employers can impose a legally enforceable requirement that women wear make-up, means that employers can force women to perform gender. This sits rather uncomfortably with Schroer_v_Billington, in which another federal court concluded that firing someone for not conforming to gender stereotypes was illegitimate and a compensable wrong.